Training exercise kicks up foot-and-mouth fears

Published: Wednesday, May 09, 2001

WAYNE BOARDA-J Farm Editor

It's a sure bet the welcome mat won't be out in Beaumont today when the first in a series of shipments of military equipment arrives from countries where foot-and-mouth disease has ravaged the livestock industry.

Federal and state officials, along with Texas' largest general farm organization, are expressing concerns that the devastating disease could be introduced into the United States from the equipment and troops that will move by ship to the port and from there by land to Fort Bliss, near El Paso. That trek will take the equipment through several counties where cow/calf operations are a big part of the agricultural economy.

Donald Patman, Texas Farm Bureau president from Waxahachie, wants the exercise stopped. He said the risk of spreading foot-and-mouth disease is ''too much of a chance to take.''

At stake is a livestock-grain-cottonseed complex that's worth an estimated $80 billion to Texas. Patman said those segments of the agricultural industry are ''at some risk'' because of the training exercise.

Foot-and-mouth disease affects cows, pigs and other cloven-hoofed animals. The infected animals develop sores on their feet and mouths. Un able to move or eat, they eventually die.

The massive military venture, dubbed Operation Roving Sands, involves manpower and machinery from Great Britain, The Netherlands and Germany. Both Great Britain and The Netherlands have suffered outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease, which has resulted in thousands of animals being destroyed and quarantines and embargoes imposed.

It is estimated that hundreds of track vehicles and as many as 950 troops from abroad will be brought to the Gulf Coast by ship and on to El Paso for the exercises, which are scheduled to run from June 15-30. They will be joined in the exercises in Texas and portions of New Mexico by some 24,000 U.S. troops.

A spokesman for the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said Tuesday that representatives from that agency, along with military customs officials, have visited the countries from which the men and machinery will come to conduct pre-clearance activities. Another inspection is planned when the equipment and personnel arrive at the port.

The inspection service has imposed a number of procedures governing inspecting and disinfecting everything from field canvass tents and Humvees to aircraft and cheese. The military, the spokesman said, has certified that none of the equipment or personnel coming into this country has been used in areas where foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks have occurred.

If inspectors determine that any equipment arriving in Texas is dirty, it will be refused entry, the spokesman said, adding that the United States has been free of foot-and-mouth disease since 1929. The malady has been found in four of the seven continents, however.

Although foot-and-mouth disease hasn't been found in Germany, its shipments are also subject to strict entry requirements because it's part of the European Union.

A German vessel with 1,887 pieces of equipment mostly heavy transport vehicles and tactical artillery will be the first to arrive, said Ernest Bezdek, manager of trade development for the port at Beaumont. As with later shipments, it will be inspected and return to open waters until arrival later this month.

Also scheduled for later arrival is a Dutch army ship carrying 293 pieces of equipment.

''The timing is very bad,'' said Patman, who raises beef cattle, grain and cotton near Waxahachie. ''The disease has devastated parts of the European livestock industry and would only take one of those soldiers who has been near infected animals or one contaminated vehicle to bring it here. Under no circumstances should those troops come here at this time.''

Susan Combs, commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture, was alerted to the planned maneuvers last month during a meeting of state agriculture and veterinary officials.

Combs said she doesn't want the maneuvers canceled, although she questions why the exercises can't be performed using only vehicles from the United States, thereby reducing the risk of contamination from affected countries.